The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-08-31
MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS.
THE CURIOUS EFFECTS Ti:EY RAVE
UPON TIE MINDS OF SOME PERSONS.

hearing OF apparently
Notes.-The Origin of Midnight S@nnds
Generally to be Traced to atmospheric
Influences.
The effect OF certain sounds upon the
mind is often very curious. We do nct
allude to the ordinary phenomena OF
speech, singing and music, where the
sound-producing apparatus is toIecaoiy
familiar, and its distance from the hearer
estimated with near approach to accu-
racy. The effect is only 'mysterl0os
when there is any doubt as to where the
sound comes from, and how 1t was
originated; the Imagination then begins,
and works itself up to very singular hal
lucinasions. Night, or darkness with
out night, has much to DO with this mat
ter. When we cannot see the sound
producing agent, conjecture is apt to run
wild. Ghost stories often depend on no
better foundation than this. For IN
stance, certain sounds msy frequently
be heard at night coming from the ar
above, but from an invisible source-a
kind of whistling or prolonged cry, the
producers of which are known II certain
parts of England as ''whistlers. Some
legends make it ont that these whlseiers
are ghosts, some evil spirits, some Wan
6ering Jews. But the truth Is that the
sounds proceed from birds, such as Wild
geese or plovers, which are in the habit
of flying in focks by night. either for
he purpose of reaching distant feeding
grounds or during their annual migra-
tions. The cry which IS usually uttered
by the ssleader'' during these nocturnal
bird-fights has, from ignorance OF Its
cause, been regarded as weird and nys-
terious by superstitious folks, who asso-
ciate it with impending evil. :,
Many supposed man IN the house"
turns out to be only the noise OF some
door, possibly affected by gradua!
changes of temperature, forcing itself
open. Many a ghost story would re-
ceive it's solution by little attention to
the sounds resulting from the expansion
and contraction Of woodwork, such as
panels, wainscoting and articles OF furnl-
ture. Heard at night, when all IS sill,
the sudden creaking of furniture n q
room is apt to be somewhat startling,
until one comes to know that It IS simply
due to the weather.
Sound, being generally more audible
at night than in the daytime, is often
exaggerated by those who overlook this
fact. Humboldt specially noted this
when listening to the cataracts OF the
Orinoco, and traced it to differences IN
the humidity of the air. a little ays
tery is also due to the fact that We some
times know that an object visible to us
is producing sound and yet We csnnot
hear it. The chirp Of the sparrow IS IN
audible to some persons; others, VINO
can hear this sound, cannot hear the
squeak of bat; and all Of us are at the
mercy of kind OF tone deafness (snalo-
gous in some degree to DR.. Daitoas
color blindness) in regard to sounds OF
acute pitch. a singular case OF visible
but inaudible drumming occurred during
the American. War of Independence.
English and American troops were drawn
up on opposite sides OF the riyer; the
outposts were mutually visible; and the
English could see an American drummer
beating his tattoo, although no sound
could be heard. This is attributed to
kind of tone opacity which affected the
air over the river IN particular state OF
temperature and humidity.
There is, to most Of Us, much mystery
in sounds when louder than We expected
to ind them. A well at Carisbrooke
Castle, Isle OF Wight, has water at the
bottom, and when so small an object as
q pin is dropped into the water, the
sound can be heard above, although the
well is more than two hundred feet deep.
At st. Alban's Cathedral, it used to be
ssid, the tick of 8 watch could be heard
from end to end of that very long build
ing. Whether the recent restoratlons
have lnterfered with this phenomenon,
we do not know. It IS 8 weI-known
fact that sounds can be heard over water
at q greater distance than over land.
DR.. Hatton heard a person reading at a
distance Of one hundred and forty feet
on the Thames, whereas he could only
hear him seventy feet away when on
the shore. Sound can be heard over
ice, also, more easily than over land.
When Lieutenant Foster was wintering
N the arctic regions, he found he could
converse with man mile and quar-
ter distant, both being on the ice. The
human voice, it is asserted, has been
heard ten miles off by persons at Gibral-
tar-over the water of the strait, We PIE
sumo. The whispering gallery at st.
Paul's IS always a mystery to visitors; a
whisper often becomes audible at the
opposite side OF the gallery, but not at
Intermediate positions. The late Charles
Wheatstone once made curious observa-
ton on sound at the Colosseum IN the
Regents Park, recently pulled down.
Placing himself close to the upper part
of the interior waI-a circle one hun
dred and thirty feet in diameter-he
found that spoken word was repeated
many times; that an exclamation ap-
peared like peal of laughter, anG that
the tearing Of piece OF paper Was like
the pattering of hail. In the Cathedral
of Girgenti, Sicily, whisper can be
heard the whole length Of the building
If the whisperer places himself in the
focus Of the semi-crcular apse at one
end. a story is told that long ago e
contessioral-b was inadvertently placed
lust ct the spot near the entrance to tie
church, and that the authorities first be-
came cogniZant Of this awkward TACT by
ferment arising out OF one particular
confession.